                                                                (06-13-2009)

                             README.TXT For...

                     9xRamDrv.bat:  9x RamDrive (v1.3)
                     *********************************


CONTENTS:
~~~~~~~~~
   I.  PRE-INTRODUCTION
  II.  INTRODUCTION
 III.  THE SKINNY
  IV.  INSTALLING
   V.  ISSUES
  VI.  LICENSE
 VII.  UNINSTALLING
VIII.  CONTACT
  IX.  MISCELLANY


I.  PRE-INTRODUCTION
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just a quick heads-up:  If intending to run 9x RamDrive on a system with
less than, say, 50MB of RAM, a simple user-edit of (9xRamDrv.bat) is
recommended.  Please see (Editing.txt) for details.


II.  INTRODUCTION
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A fabulous app, Franck Uberto's XMSDSK (v1.9i).  It just needed a
user-friendly, menu-driven frontend to pal around with.  Voila...
9x RamDrive!

9x RamDrive supports the following XMSDSK (v1.9i) options:

     * Size (up to 2GB)
     * Drive Letter Assignment
     * Cluster Size (/c)
     * Top Memory Addresses (/t)

XMSDSK can be used to create a RAM disk drive on a Win9x system.  A RAM disk
drive is similar to a hard disk drive, but it is chiseled out of the
system's main memory (RAM).  Thus it is generally much faster (writing to
and reading from) than a hard disk drive (certainly if the hardware is of
or around Win9x-era vintage).  So faster, yes, but volatile as well--all
data on it is lost upon rebooting.  Data, to persist, then, must be copied
elsewhere before a reboot or shutdown (or perhaps even a power failure or
trip).

Bla (creator of Blaware and this document) uses XMSDSK ramdisks regularly,
mostly to better enable audio/video tasks (record in real-time or just
edit).  Performing these tasks on older hardware (without using a ramdisk)
would likely produce low-quality results or simply be impossible.  With a
ramdisk involved in the process, however, it's smooth sailing!


III.  THE SKINNY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CALLed without parameters, 9x RamDrive will auto-abort unless accessed
(within about 5 seconds) by the user.  If accessed, 9x RamDrive offers the
user a list of sizes to choose from (for installing a ramdrive).  Also
configurable are the desired drive letter assignment and "DSUF1BF" (disk
space used for 1-byte file, AKA "cluster size").

CALLed with parameters, 9x RamDrive can:

     1) Auto-abort (...if not accessed by the user, and no SIZE parameter is
        defined).

     2) Run normally, displaying user defaults for the DRIVE LETTER,
        DSUF1BF, and SIZE parameters if defined (...if accessed by the
        user).

     3) Auto-install a ramdrive of user-defined configuration (...if not
        accessed by the user, and at least the SIZE parameter is defined).


IV.  INSTALLING
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Note:  If upgrading from a previous version, simply deleting the existing
-----  files and folders and replacing them with the new is recommended.


> Bla's Suggested Setup   : probably the easiest way to set up the program
> ---------------------
   > Bla's Personal Setup : how Bla has it set up to run on his machines
   > --------------------


> Bla's Suggested Setup
> ---------------------
> Assemble the required apps and install them to one of the system's %PATH%
> directories (a directory included in the system's PATH statement--type
> "PATH" at a command prompt to see a list of these directories).  These
> required apps likely include:
>
>           RFN.BAT
>      BATCHMAN.COM
>          NSET.COM
>        MD5SUM.EXE
>        XMSDSK.EXE
>
> Of course, the required external programs that are part of MS-DOS (v7.xx)
> are already installed and should remain where they are [most likely in the
> (%windir%\Command\) directory].  Perhaps verify their existence.  These
> likely include:
>
>        CHOICE.COM
>          MODE.COM
>          FIND.EXE
>         LABEL.EXE
>           MEM.EXE
>         HIMEM.SYS
>
> (HIMEM.SYS) must be (unless another XMS memory manager is to be used)
> loaded in the system's (CONFIG.SYS) file, for example:
>
>      [DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS]
>
> The line...
>
>      [LASTDRIVE=Z]
>
> should also be present in the (CONFIG.SYS) file.  If a "LASTDRIVE" line
> other than the one suggested above is already present in the (CONFIG.SYS)
> file (and editing it is not desired), see the (9xRamDrv.nfo) file for a
> proper solution.


   > Bla's Personal Setup
   > --------------------
   > Bla piles all his external DOS apps (*.COM and *.EXE) that are used
   > frequently into his (C:\DOS\) directory.  All his batch programs
   > (*.BAT) are located in his (C:\BAT\) directory.  These two directories
   > are both included in the system's PATH statement [which is set in the
   > (AUTOEXEC.BAT) file].
   >
   > (HIMEM.SYS) and "LASTDRIVE" lines are present in the (CONFIG.SYS) file
   > as suggested in the section above.


> Bla's Suggested Setup
> ---------------------
> Install the (9xRamDrv.zip) package of files to the (C:\Bat\9xRamDrv\)
> directory.  These files include:
>
>      9xRamDrv.bat
>       File_id.diz
>      MD5_Sums.md5
>      9xRamDrv.nfo
>       Blaware.nfo
>       Editing.txt
>       History.txt
>        Readme.txt
>      Req_Apps.txt
>
> ...as well as the screenshots, (9xRDss1.png - 9xRDss8.png).


   > Bla's Personal Setup
   > --------------------
   > Bla has the (9xRamDrv.zip) package of files installed to the
   > (C:\Bat\9xRamDrv\) directory, except for the main program file,
   > (9xRamDrv.bat), which he installed to the (C:\Bat\) directory.


> Bla's Suggested Setup
> ---------------------
> Run (9xRamDrv.bat) from the (AUTOEXEC.BAT) file with a command such as:
>
>      [CALL Drive:\Path\to\9xRamDrv.bat DRIVE LETTER DSUF1BF SIZE]
>                                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~
>
> where "DRIVE LETTER", "DSUF1BF", and "SIZE" are optional parameters that
> the user wishes to be defined as defaults.  See the "Setup For RamDrive
> Auto-Install" section of the (9xRamDrv.nfo) file for information on
> defining user defaults with parameters.
>
> Bla also recommends adding this line to the system's (CONFIG.SYS) file:
>
>      [SHELL=C:\PATH\TO\COMMAND.COM /E:32768 /P]
>
> This will make it so that (in general) batch programs have the maximum
> amount of environment space to work with when they are run.  [Of course,
> edit that line so it reflects the true path to (COMMAND.COM).]


   > Bla's Personal Setup
   > --------------------
   > Bla runs (9xRamDrv.bat) on his 128MB Win9x machines with the command:
   >
   >      [CALL 9xRamDrv V 64 #], in the file (C:\Bat\_DosBats.bat).
   >
   > Bla also runs (9xRamDrv.bat) on his 2GB Win9x machine with the command:
   >
   >      [CALL 9xRamDrv V # 1500], also in the file (C:\Bat\_DosBats.bat).
   >
   > The (C:\Bat\_DosBats.bat) file (from which Bla launches many batch
   > programs) is run with the command:
   >
   >      [CALL _DosBats], in the system's (AUTOEXEC.BAT) file.
   >
   > Bla also has this line in the system's (CONFIG.SYS) file:
   >
   >      [SHELL=COMMAND.COM /E:32768 /P]


V.  ISSUES
~~~~~~~~~~
If (9xRamDrv.bat) is run and interrupted before completion (for instance if
there is a power failure or trip), there may be a folder with scrap contents
left in the root directory of the C: drive.  (This would be a temporary
folder used by the program that normally would be deleted once no longer
needed.)  If this happens more than once, there could indeed be more than
just one scrap folder left undeleted.  The scrap folder(s) might be named
(just a 1-digit name, most likely) any of the following:

     Z # Q 0 V @ X 8 P & Y ^ J } B 4 W $ F 7 K ( D 5 T

          C ! G 3 R { H 9 M _ S 6 N ) L ' U ~ O 2 I - E 1 A

The contents (for positive identification purposes) of the scrap folder(s)
would likely be only a (#nv#l#d.bat) and perhaps (Invalid.bat) file.  If
discovered and positively identified, the scrap folder(s) should be deleted.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

IMPORTANT:  When choosing an option at any of the program's on screen menus,
----------  please only press a key that is in the allowable key set as
            displayed on screen.  Pressing a key other than one of those
displayed on screen as options could produce results with unintended
consequences.                                                              !


VI.  LICENSE
~~~~~~~~~~~~
YOU MAY NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER....  Heehee,
just kidding.  It's free, open, all that good stuff--hey, it's on your
computer, it must be yours!  If you wish, change the code to launch nukes at
your enemies (no, no, don't even ponder that!).       *** PEACE ***       :)


VII.  UNINSTALLING
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1) Disable or remove any commands that autorun (9xRamDrv.bat).
2) Delete (9xRamDrv.bat) and all related files/folders that were added to
   the system upon installation.  9x RamDrive does not use the Windows
   Registry at all, so there's nothing to delete there.


VIII.  CONTACT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
E-Mail:  Blaware@FastMail.fm


IX.  MISCELLANY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* The 9x RamDrive documents are best viewed in a fixed-width font
  such as Andale Mono, Courier, Fixedsys, Terminal (recommended),...

* Please read (9xRamDrv.nfo) for more information on 9x RamDrive.

* For important information on editing (9xRamDrv.bat) for the purpose of
  adjusting the amount of RAM that 9x RamDrive will reserve for the system,
  see (Editing.txt).

* In general, any of the "Blaware" batch files may contain information about
  their purpose and usage.  Just open them in a text editor.

* For console help with any of the (.\Blaware\*.bat) programs, type:
  [BatName /?]

* Other Blaware programs to look for may include:

  /---------------------------------------------------\
  |      ARCHIVE |  BATCH FILE  | PROGRAM NAME        |
  |==============|==============|=====================|
  | 9xBak100.zip | 9xBak100.bat | 9x Backup 100       |
  |--------------|--------------|---------------------|
  |  9xClone.zip |  9xClone.bat | 9x Clone            |
  |--------------|--------------|---------------------|
  | 9xRamDrv.zip | 9xRamDrv.bat | 9x RamDrive         |
  |--------------|--------------|---------------------|
  | 9xRegChk.zip | 9xRegChk.bat | 9x Registry Checker |
  |--------------|--------------|---------------------|
  | 9xRegRev.zip | 9xRegRev.bat | 9x Registry Revert  |
  \---------------------------------------------------/

* Have a fine day!  Hope 9x RamDrive works for you!


                                  THE END
